The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1887-08-11
WHAT IS HYPNOTISM.
The Way it was Discovered and Ex-
planned by Physician.

In 1871 James Braid was in
practice as physician at Manches-
ter. Thither came La Fontaine lee
turing on mesmerism and perform
ing experiments of the familiar
type, illustrating the theory Of the
stronger will and the dominant
idea. Braid was interested in the
lectures, suspected the experiments
to be impostures pnd declared the
theory to be false. He worked at
the subject himself, and in the
years following issued several books
containing most remarkable expe-
riences regarding what he called
neuro-hynoptism, but which after
him was for long time known as
Braidism and is now described in
all the dictionaries and textbooks
as hynoptism. Braid found that
most of the phenomena could be
self-induced. That a man, SO to
speak, could. mesmerize himself by
fixing his gaze upon some mani
mate object and concentrating his
attention, He thus, to his satisfac-
ton, proved the subjective nature
of the influence. To talk of animal
magnetism from an inanimate OBJ
iect was absurd. Braidism met
with much opposition. It was fu-
riously attacked by the mesmerists,
whose very citadel it threatened,
and it was received with horror by
large section Of the public, who
refused to believe in the possibility
of its phenomena. There was no
mystery as to the method of pro-
cedure. All that Braid did was to
take any bright object, such as his
lancet-case, between the thumb and
fore and middle fingers Of the left
hand, and held it from eight to ff-
teen inches from the eye Of the pa
tient in such a position above the
forehead as was necessary to pro-
duce the greatest strain on the eyes
and eyelids. On this bright point
the patient was to stare fxedly. In
ordinary cases in fifteen seconds, if
the patients limbs were lifted, they
would evince tendency to remain
in the position to which they had
been raised; in a few seconds more
strange feeling Of exaltation
would spread through him; in a
few seconds more he would be
asleep and insensible to pain.
There never is anything new, and
of course, there was nothing new
in Braid's discovery. The magi-
clans used to hynoptize their be-
levers by making them gaze at
the scratches on the crystal sphere.
The Egyptian priests hynoptized
theirs by making them stare at the
mystic signs on the bright metal
mirror: The anchorites lifted their
eyes fxedly on the armament and
went off into ecstacy. The monks
of Mount Athos hung their heads
and looked downward until they
felt their senses swim away, and
the Indian ascetics of 1887 gain
hypnotic power by squirting at the
tips of their noses, as their ances-
tors have done for ages. -. As
to mesmerizing animals with the
"passes," which, granting Braid's
theory, is the same thing as hy-
noptizing them; there are innumer-
able examples. The iguaaa can be
hynoptized, SO can the cobra, SC
can the turtle. Secure their fixed
attention for a minute or two and
they are helpless. AS it is with an
animal so it is with a man. Hold
his undivided attention for a short
period and he will fall away into
state resembling catalepsy. Lei
him look at glittering piece ot
glass, or diamond or stud or eme'
raid pin and before his eyes have
begun to ache he will collapse
There is case on record of a stu
dent who was told he would be by
noptized from distance at 4 O'Clock
on certain day. He was to look a
the clock a little before to see how
the time was going. An umpire, {
well known physician, was tollee
off to watch him. At q minute or two
to 1 he looked at the clock and hi:
gaze become fixed, and as the clocl
struck he fell back as if he hac
been sent to sleep with full mesme
ric honors.
It does not suit everybody t<
hynoptize, nor does it suit every
body to be hynoptized. The begin
ner ''for fun,'' may find the patien
go off into convulsions, and refuse
to be awakened ata tap or puff y
so lis best to leave experimenting
to competent medical practitioners
Leisure Hour.